While I was waiting for Wicked to begin, I noticed that fifty, maybe sixty percent of the audience was female. In general, I suppose musicals attract more women than men, but the disparity seemed more noticeable at this performance. Perhaps it had something with the fact that Wicked is one of the few musicals to feature two strong female leads, with the major male lead not appearing until well into the first act.
Having not read the book, I can’t say how faithful the musical adaptation is to the source material. I did find it to be a clever retelling of the Oz story. I especially liked the portrayal of the Wizard as something of a petty tyrant. There always did seem to be something vaguely fascist about that guy in the original. There are even some disability undercurrents in the story, although I found it somewhat unfortunate that the girl in the wheelchair turns out to be the Wicked Witch of the East and, well, a clingy little bitch. But such minor gripes aside, it was great show.
It became even greater during those numbers that included a fetching redheaded dancer with a great smile. Surely, there must be a fan club for her. If not, I’d totally start one dedicated to her. If I knew her name, which I don’t. But if I did, I would.
I’ve read the book in the past year but not yet seen the musical. The book was fantastic, I thought. One I couldn’t put down. I’ve plans to reread it eventually and write on my blog about the disability aspects in it — I think both witches can be argued to be disabled, especially if you believe a physical abnormality like having green skin is a disability. The book shows how it shapes them both. Great story. I saw the Wizard of Oz was on TV the other night and I really couldn’t stop thinking of this book and the retelling of the tale.
There are quite a few differences between the book and the show– the book is much darker, and has more of a political undertone, for one thing. The characters develop differently too. I recommend it.
The thing that I wasn’t crazy about was the fact that pretty much the whole show is sung. It is essentially an operetta rather than a musical which means that there is less space for developing character and issue exposition. It also means that although parts of most of the songs are terrific, all of the songs have longish parts that drag.
All that said, although I’m not much for theater, I’m glad I saw it.